NEW YORK — After a protracted battle in the British and European courts, Abu Hamza al-Masri, an incendiary Muslim preacher with links to al-Qaeda, and four other terrorism suspects implicated in an array of anti-U.S. terrorist plots, were extradited to the U.S. to face federal charges in New York and New Haven, Conn., on Saturday.

Appearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, al-Masri, 54, dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and sweat pants, remained seated and looked down at court papers as Magistrate Judge Frank Maas read the 11-count indictment.

The two other defendants in Manhattan, Adel Abdul Bary, 52, and Khalid al-Fawwaz, 50, were arraigned on charges of conspiracy and murder in the killing of more than 200 people in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and in Nairobi, Kenya.

Al-Masri’s attorney, Sabrina Shroff, asked that a prosthetic device be returned to al-Masri, who lost an eye and his hands in an explosion. She also requested that he be fitted for special shoes, be given access to a dictation device because of his disability and be allowed to take diabetes medication.

Within hours of having their appeals to remain in Britain rejected by a high court, the men were escorted by U.S. Marshals and FBI agents on flights to the U.S. early Saturday.

Federal authorities in the United States had long been seeking the extradition of al-Masri — who has attracted support among Muslim militants in London — for his involvement in a 1998 kidnapping of U.S. citizens in Yemen, supporting the establishment of a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore., and facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan, according to a statement by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. If convicted, al-Masri could face life in prison.

In New Haven on Saturday, the two other defendants, Syed Ahsan, 33, and Babar Ahmad, 38, pleaded not guilty to charges that included conspiring to recruit fighters, raise money and gather equipment for terrorists. They also face life in prison if convicted.

Mary Galligan, the acting head of the FBI in New York, called the extraditions “a major milestone.”

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said, “The extradition of these three alleged terrorists to the U.S. is a watershed moment in our nation’s efforts to eradicate terrorism, and it makes good on a promise to the American people to use every available diplomatic, legal and administrative tool to pursue and prosecute charged terrorists, no matter how long it takes.”

Al-Masri, who his attorneys say has diabetes and depression, among other illnesses, spent several years fighting extradition to the U.S. His case, as well as those of the other defendants, have been at the center of British and European courts for nearly a decade as they tested the balance between civil liberties and national security.

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